Term limits, shrinking the size of Troy's Council on the table (CLARIFICATION)

ZALEWSKI

CLARIFCATION: Zalewski said the commission is exploring whether or not it is legal and/or feasible to break out the controversial question of term limits on it's own and have people vote on the rest of the charter changes as a whole.

The Troy Charter Review Commission is discussing two controversial issues as it determines what revisions to make to the city’s governing document.

The abolition of term limits and reducing the size of the Council from nine to seven members – with six district representatives and one for the entire city - are on the table, said Councilman Ken Zalewski, D-District 5, on Talk 1300.

Zalewski, who is serving his fourth and final two-year term under the charter, said a representative from the League of Women Voters, Steve Muller, came to the last commission meeting and made a strong case against term limits. While any change to the charter would not impact Zalewski or any other official currently in office, Zalewski said he appreciates both sides of the age-old term limit argument and is open to changing them in Troy. Zalewski is serving on the commission with eight other members.

He said it makes little sense for federal officials like members of Congress – where big money is often exchanged for influence - to serve as long as voters want them elected while in a relatively tiny City of Troy members of the Council and the mayor can only serve eight years.

Other arguments for term limits include allowing politicians to stay in office too long and getting lazy or corrupt, using the office to campaign for what has become a never-ending election cycle and preventing “new blood” with new ideas from getting into office. Arguments against include forcing a conscientious, hard-working honest politician out of office because an arbitrary number of years has passed and the loss of institutional knowledge for the same reason. It also takes power away from voters who should have the final say if they want someone to stay or go.

To the other hot button issue, Zalewski said there have been nine Council members since Troy’s population was upwards towards 75,000. Now, he said, it is right around 50,000 and three At Large members are not necessary. Also, he said, six people running for three seats can confuse some voters because they may think it is a head to head contest between the two who are lined up across from each other on the ballot rather having the ability to choose any three candidates.

The way Troy’s electoral process is now, the candidate with the highest vote total is the Council president. The president does not have any more power than the other eight members but the president does preside over meetings. By default, if the charter is changed reducing the number of members to seven, candidates would run directly for the presidency.

While there has been some talk of reducing the size of the Council, there has not been any serious move towards that end.

Mayoral term limits, however, became an issue in 2003, then Mayor Mark Pattison’s last year in office. First he asked a sharply divided Council to abolish term limits and while everyone thought then Councilman Bill Pascarell, D-District 4, was going to be the swing vote, Councilman Keith Rogers, D-District 3, broke from his Democratic colleagues and voted to keep them in place.

(As an aside, I was covering Troy at the time and for at least a week prior to the vote Pascarell wouldn’t tell anyone which way he was voting. Or, maybe he told both sides he was with them, I honestly have no idea. But the night of the vote, Pascarell was standing about eight-foot tall when he walked up on the dais, relishing the fact all eyes were on him. Not 30 minutes later, Rogers shocked everyone when he voted with then President Frank LaPosta before Pascarell even had a chance to utter a word. You could almost see him deflate back down to his previous stature of a little shy of five-foot.)

After the Council shot it down, it was put to a referendum where about 75 percent of the electorate said they wanted to keep term limits in place. Also, all those on the Council who supported the move were voted out.

To avoid having what is historically a lightning rod issue – not just in Troy but all over the county – overshadow the other revisions to the charter, Zalewski said the commission is exploring whether or not it can legally put two different versions of the new charter to the voters this November. The two would be identical except one would include abolishing term limits and one would leave them in place.